Saint John Paul II: catholic priest in communist Poland

(Vatican Radio)  Veronica Scarisbrick brings you a programme focusing on the life of Karol Wojtyla in the  lead up to his election as Successor of Peter. A feature  which includes the witness of some of those who knew him as well as clips of recorded sound of this new Saint from our Vatican Radio archives. 

Listen to a programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick: 

At the beginning of his pontificate John Paul II said : “Sometimes we may wish for a  kind of life that is easier than the one we have”. Certainly the scenario in which the young  Karol Wojtyla began his life and indeed his priestly  life was not an easy one. It was a world in which often his identity as a priest could not be publicly acknowledged.

Something that surfaced  when as newly elected pope he  met  with the press for the first time in his pontificate and  a Polish  lady   cried out “wuyek” meaning uncle in  Polish reminding him of his years as a priest in Poland.

A story confirmed and illustrated further by Professor Staniswaf  Grygiel,  a one - time personal friend of Karol Wojtyla: “Journalists  at the press conference, were startled  by this   Polish lady   who suddenly addressed  the  pope as - “uncle”!  What they didn’t know was that this was a common way of addressing a catholic priest in  communist Poland where   to identify him openly as  “father” was far too   risky: the mystery lady had taken part in one of the  secret retreats held by  “Uncle Wojtyla” up in the mountains.

In fact during  those years of religious intolerance  discretion  became  the price of religious  survival. People  were forced to keep such activities secret  because the police were always on the look out. Had they  found out what was really going on, those involved would have had to pay a very high price.

In this feature you can also hear the voice of an American cardinal who visited the concentration and extermination  camps of Auschwitz Birkenau with Karol Wojtyla when he was Archbishop of Cracow but also a childhood friend and a journalist who was in Saint Peter’s Square when Cardinal Wojtyla was elected as Successor of Peter.

But also the words of Pope John Paul II recorded ad archived by Vatican Radio including his first words in Italian when he appeared at the Loggia of Saint Peter’s Basilica: “ This time  they’ve chosen a  Pope who’s come from afar…I’ll do my best to speak in your Italian language …no in our Italian language.”